Stock Market & Financial Investment News

IT storage sector looks set to rebound in 2H14, says Pacific Crest Pacific Crest believes that positive supply chain commentary from a number of companies including Seagate (STX), Datalink (DTLK) and Western Digital (WDC), along with positive results from the firm's CIO survey, suggest that the storage sector will recover in the second half of 2014. The firm remains upbeat on EMC but sees more upside in NetApp (NTAP), CommVault (CVLT), and Nimble Storage (NMBL). The firm keeps Outperform ratings on EMC, NetApp, CommVault, and Nimble Storage.

EMC upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wells FargoWells Fargo analyst Maynard Um upgraded EMC (EMC) to Outperform citing a more favorable risk/reward following the company's reduced guidance. Um sees the potential for a number of strategic corporate actions, some of which he believes could take place before year-end. Most favorable would be a buy-in of EMC's VMware (VMW) stake, Maynard tells investors in a research note. The analyst has a $29-$31 price target range for EMC shares, which closed yesterday up 45c to $25.38.

Seagate downgraded to Underweight from Overweight at Morgan StanleyMorgan Stanley downgraded Seagate two notches to Underweight from Overweight and cut its view on the US IT Hardware Industry to Cautious from In-Line. The firm's June CIO survey indicates incremental enterprise IT budget weakness, and when combined with a downtick in cloud capex, results in a reduction in estimates and multiple compression. Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on shares to $34 from $49.

EMC technical notes ahead of earningsThe key feature on a long-term chart is a potential compound bearish head and shoulders pattern. Shares are directly on the neckline of that pattern ahead of earnings. A move below $24 would confirm that the pattern is active. Downside potential would be to the $16 area over time, presuming the pattern was not interrupted. If the news is a bullish surprise, resistance levels to watch as potential upside objectives are at $26.17, $27.73, and $29.04. A move above $27.50 that sustained for several months would void the head and shoulders pattern.